Electrical program-clock



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. A. J. BEAMS.

, ELECTRICAL PROGRAM CLOCK.

NO. 563,883. Patented July 14, 1896.

(No Model.) 2 ShetSTSheet 2.

A. J. BEAMS. BLBGTRIGAL PROGRAM CLOCK.

No. 563,883. Patented July 14, 1896.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANDREW .I. BEAMS, OF CHICAGO,.ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE PROGRAM CLOCK COMPANY, OF ILLINOIS.

ELECTRICAL PROGRAM-CLOCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 563,883, dated July 14, 1896. hpplication filed November 20,1895. Serial No. 569,547. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ANDREW J. REAMs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Electrical Program-Clocks, (Case No. 1,) of which the followingis a full, clear, concise,and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

' My invention relates to an electrical program-clock, its object being to provide an improved construction of clock mechanism and a circuit-controlling device whereby a signal may be sounded at any predetermined time.

Upon the face of the clock I provide a series of contacts adapted to be placed at will in position to be engaged by a contact carried upon the hour-hand, the contacts being preferably in the form of a ring, upon which contact-fingers are rotatably mounted, whereby they may be moved into a position with their ends projecting into the path of the traveling contact, or they may be rotated into a position to rest out of the path of the traveling contact. The contacts may thus be arranged to sound a signal at any predetermined time. The hour-hand, instead of traveling continu ously, as has been the usual practice, is adapted to be moved at intervals, that is, step by step, the driving mechanism of the hour-hand being normally locked, but released at intervals, preferably every five minutes, to move the hour-hand forward through a space corresponding to five minutes. By this arrangement the closing of the circuit between the contact carried upon the hour-hand and the contact provided upon the face of the clock may be effected at the precise instant of time desired. A circuit-controller is operated by the mechanism which moves the hour-hand,

so that when the hour-hand is rotated the continuity of the circuit is completed through clock embodying my invention, the circuit arrangements being indicated diagrammatically. Fig. 2 is a detailed view showing the contact-fingers mounted upon the face of the clock and the contact carried upon the hourhand. Fig. 3 is a view in elevation of the clock mechanism. Fig. 4 is a view of the mechanism for rotating the hour-hand as seen from the "opposite side to that of Fig. 3.

Like letters refer to like parts in the sev eral figures.

Upon the face of the clock is mounteda me tallic ring a, upon which are rotatably mounted contact-fingers a a, the fingers being preferably arranged at intervals corresponding to five minutes. When rotated toward the center of the ring, the ends of the contact-fingers rest in the path of the contact I), carried upon the hour-hand b, and when rotated in the opposite direction the contact-fingers lie out of the path of the contact I). By rotating the desired contact-fingers into the path of the traveling contact an alarm may be sounded at any predetermined time.

The ring a is connected with one side of a battery or othersource of electricity 0, circuit then extending through the hell or signal device c, thence to the contact-spring 0 to the rotating disk 0 with the periphery of which the spring 0 is adapted to make contact when the disk is rotated, the spring a normally resting out of engagement with the disk. The disk 0 is electrically connected with the clock mechanism with which the hour-hand b is in electrical connection, the circuit thus extending through the hour-hand to the contact Z), carried upon the end thereof, and thence to the particular contact-finger a, with which the contact I) may engage.

The contact I), carried upon the hour-hand, comes in contact with one of the contact-fingers a, and when the mechanism driving the hour-hand is released the disk 0 is rotated, thus completing circuit from the battery 0 through the bell 0, spring a", disk 0 hourhand b, contact I), contact-finger a, to the opposite side of the battery. When disk 0? has made a half-rotation, the contact between the spring 0 and the disk 0 is broken and the contact b is moved out of engagement with the contact-finger a.

To effect the step-by-step movement of the hour-hand b,the hour-hand ismounted loosely upon the shaft (Z, which carries the minutehand, a ratchet-wheel I) being mounted to move with the hour-hand. A pawl Z) is provided for rotating the ratchet-wheel U and is carried upon a pivoted lever Z), the end of which is adapted to be engaged by the teeth of a wheel a, the wheel 0 being driven by the spring f through intermediate gearing. wheel a is provided with sixteen teeth and is rotated a tooth at a time at the end of each interval of five minutes, the end of the lever I)" thus riding upon the tooth and causing the pawl l) to slide over the periphery of the ratchet-wheel b \Vhen the end of the lever bipasses over the point of the tooth, a spring The U depresses the lever, thus moving the pawl? b to rotate the ratchet-wheel li and thus ad-; vance the hour-hand 0 through a space corf responding to five minutes.

Upon the shafte,carrying the wheel 6, is mounted a toothed wheel 6 meshing with a pinion 0, carried 'upon'a shaft 6'. controller is mounted upon the shaft 6' and is provided in its periphery with diametrically-situated notches c c, in which the end of the contact-spring c is adapted to normally rest, circuit'bein g thus openedbetween the contact-spring and the disk. The disk 1-3 is adapted to rotate through a half-revolution while the wheel a is rotating through the distance of one tooth. As the disk e rotates the endof the spring 0 rides upon the periphery thereof, thuscompleting the circuit, the end of the spring falling into the opposite notch 0 upon the completion of a half- -rotation of the disk. Upon the shaft 6" is mounteda disk g, provided at opposite points in its periphery with notches g g, in which the end of a rod or arm 9 is adapted to rest. \V hen the train begins to move, the arm is moved out of the notch g and rides upon the periphery of the disk 9 until the disk has completed'a halfrevolution, when it falls into the opposite notch g. The arm g is mounted upon the rocking shaft which carries an arm 9', engaged by an arm h, carried upon the .-1*ocking shaftZz. An operating arm or rod 702 is mounted upon the rocking shaft 7L and is engaged at its upturned end by pins 7; 7t, mountedupon a disk or wheelZc, carried upon the shaft (Z, upon which is mounted the minuteehand. The pins It" 7t" are twelve in number, and,.as the shaft (Z makes one revolution each hour, the distance between thepins ZtZt corresponds tofive minutes. As

The disk 0 of the circuit-j thewheel it rotates one of the pins 7t" engages A pinion is mounted upon the same shaft with the wheel Z and meshes with the wheel Z", carried upon the shaft c. When the arm 75* is engaged by one of the pins It" to rock the shafts 7L and 9 the arm is raised out of engagement with the stop Z, and the arm g is moved out of engagement with the notch g, thus permitting the train to rotate through a short distance until the stop Z engages the arm carried upon the rocking shaft 7L. The movement of the train is thus checked until the pin 70 has completelypassed the upturned end of the rod h and permits the rod to move inward beneath the pin that has just passed. This movement of the rod 762 carries the arm Zr out of the path of the stop I and permits the train. to rotate. The end of arm g now rides upon the periphery of the disk g, thus maintaining the arm out of the path of the stop Z. \Vhen the disk g has completed a half-revolution, the arm 9 falls into the opposite notch 9., thus moving the end of the arm Pinto the path of the stop Z and checking the movement of the train. The movement of the train is sufficient to rotate the wheel e through the distance of one tooth, thus operatingthe pawlb and moving the hour-hand through the distance correspondin g tofiveminutes. During the move- .ment of the train the contact-spring c rides upon the periphery of :the disk 0", thus completing. circuit through the circuit-controlling device. Supposing the hour-hand Z) to be resting .against one of 'thecontact-fingers a when the trainis started in motion, circuitwill be closed through the bell so long as the contact-spring c engages the disk 0 At the completion of the movement of the train the hour-hand Z) is moved forward by the pawl Z1 and the circuit is opened between thespri n g c and disk c.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a prog1'am-.clock,tl1e combination with the time-keepingclock-traiu,'of an hour-hand carrying the traveling contact, a second drivin g-train the intermittent,movement of which is controlled by the clock-train, a ratchetwheel mounted to rotatewith the hour-hand, a pawl for rotating said ratchet wheel, a toothed wheel for operating said pawl connected in the driving-train of the hour-hand and thereby periodically rotated the distance of a single .tooth to advance the hour-hand of the clock step by step, substantially as described.

2. The combination with the time-keeping train of a clock, of a controlling-wheel actua time-keeping train actuating the minutehand, of a separate drivingtrain and spring actuating the hour-hand thereof, contacts adj ustably disposed upon the face of the clock, an hour-hand and a traveling contact mounted thereon adapted to successively engage the adjusted. contacts on the face of the clock as the said hour-hand is rotated, substantially as described.

4- The combination with the driving-train of a clock actuating the minute-hand, of an hour-hand loosely mounted upon the shaft of the minute-hand, a second driving-train and spring actuating the hour-hand, a traveling contact carried upon the hour-hand, contacts provided upon the clock-face adapted to be adj ustably disposed in position to be engaged by the traveling contact, a stop normally checking the said second drivin g-train adapted to be intermittently actuated by the clocktrain to release the said driving-train and permit the advance of the hour-hand and traveling contact step by step to successively engage the adjusted contacts upon the clockface, substantially as described.

5. In a program-cloclgthe combination with the clock-train, of a separate driving-train and spring for the hour-hand, the movement of which is controlled by the clock-train, adapted to periodically advance the hour-hand step by step, a plurality of contacts upon the clockface, each of which may be adjusted to be engaged by the traveling contact, a traveling contact carried upon the hour -hand and adapted to engage the said adjusted contacts upon the face of the clock, and a circuit-controlling device for closing the circuit therethrough for a period of definite duration, substantially as described.

6. In a program-clock,the combination with the hour-hand b of said clock loosely mounted upon the shaft of the minute-hand and carrying a traveling contact 5, a ratchet-wheel b rotating with the said hour-hand, pawl Z7 engaging teeth upon the said ratchetqvheel, contacts a mounted upon the face of the clock adapted to be adj ustably disposed in the path of the traveling contact, a spring f, and a second driving-train, a time-keeping clocktrain actuating the minute-hand, a stop 9 normally checking the movement of said second driving-train adapted to be periodically actuated by the clock-train to release the second driving-train, and toothed wheel 6 mounted in said driving-train adapted to periodically actuate the pawl b to rotate the said ratchet-wheel and hour-hand a predetermined distance and alter the circuit-connections upon the clock-face, substantially as described.

7. The combination with the wheel is mounted to rotate with the minute-hand and carrying the pins 101, of the operating-lever 712 mounted upon rocking shaft h, rocking shaft 9 adapted to be rocked when said shaft h is rocked, arm 9 mounted upon shaft 9 notched disk 9 adapted to be engaged by said arm g arms 9 h carried upon shafts g and it respectively, wheel Z carrying the stop Z, circuitcontrolling disk 0 and contact-spring c toothed wheel e, pawl b operated thereby,-

hour-hand b, and ratchet-wheel 12 mounted to rotate therewith; substantially as described.

8. In a clock for transmitting electrical signals, the combination with the clock-train, of a separate driving-train for the hour-hand of the clock, a stop normally checking the said driving-train of the hour-hand adapted to be periodically actuated by the clock-train to permit the driving-train to advance the hourhand a predetermined distance, a contact carried upon the hour-hand, contacts mounted upon the clock-face, each of which may be adj usted to be engaged by the said contact upon the hour-hand, and a circuit-controlling device provided in the driving-train of the hourhand for completing the continuity of the circuit a definite length of time, substantially as described.

In Witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name this 15th day of November, A. D. 1895.

ANDREW J. BEAMS. Witnesses JOHN W. SINCLAIR, W. CLYDE J ONES. 

